If you have been trying to find the ideal web host provider for your website, chances are you have been looking only at web hosts located in North America. After all, typical web searches for ‘web hosting’ or ‘website host’ bring up results of North American web host providers. But should you also be considering web hosting elsewhere? Many internet experts have stated that web hosting Europe is the "next big thing" in the web hosting industry. It might be a good idea to look at European hosts for your website.

But, how can you know if your website should be hosted with a North American company or a European company? There are differences between the two, of course–and many people may not know how to determine which would be best for their website. So, here are four helpful tips to help you determine if web hosting Europe is right for your site.

1. Consider each country’s infrastructure. North America has a well-established groundwork of pipes and bandwidth–everything needed to ensure connections for every customer. Europe, however, is relatively new to the hosting market. Web hosts in Europe may not be able to provide quite as much bandwidth or disk space as those in North America.

2. The issue of technical support is different for each country. While most webmasters hope that they never need tech support, the reality is that tech support is eventually needed by most at some point. Therefore, it is essential to be able to call someone when necessary.

It is best to consider time zones and whether 24/7 technical support is offered by a web host before selecting a hosting provider. Otherwise, there may only be a small window of time during each day when support could be obtained from a host on another continent. If you would like to choose a web host that does not offer 24/7 support, it would be best to select a host on your own continent.

3. Pricing for web hosting plans are generally comparable, regardless of whether you choose a North American plan or a European plan. But, people in Europe often have to pay each time they connect to the internet; therefore, they may want to select hosting packages in their area that are bundled with phone plans in order to save some money.

4. You will want to consider the scope of your website and your customers when selecting your hosting plan as well. If most of your customers are European, you might want to choose a European hosting plan because this can provide you with a slight advantage in speed and connectivity for your customers. Likewise, if your customers are mainly from North America, you will want to select a North American plan.

There are many web hosts who can provide reliable and effective hosting for your website. Choosing European hosting can be a good idea for some webmasters, especially as the web hosting industry in Europe is rapidly expanding.